Honeymoon at Harrisville

Hey peeps, it has been crazily busy here at the tress house and by that, I meant my day job. (I got promoted! Which also comes with an entirely new set of responsibilities on top of what I already have and a lot of new things that I am learning at the office…Hence, the lack of posts recently. “I need another me!” is the thought I’ve been having the past couple of weeks! That said, I managed to get some time and finished this post that’s been sitting in my draft box. Enjoy! 🙂

So I thought while we wait for the pictures from our wedding photographers I can tell you guys about our honeymoon. For our honeymoon, we decided to go camping up north rather than spending a bunch of money and go elsewhere like the Bahamas. Throughout the whole wedding planning process and family dramas (you’ll find out about it when I post about our wedding until then…I’ll keep that cliff hanger there 😉 What I wanted most was to stay true to ourselves and what we are as a couple at the core of our relationship. Jack and I started this journey as a couple on a backpacking trip, it only makes sense to me that we revisit the simplicity of that and then some.

What do I mean by that? Well, whether it is backpacking or camping (like backcountry camping NOT “Glamping”) you only carry so much with you and the goal of that is to allow yourselves to fall into the embrace of mother nature without the frills of “city baggage.” When Jack and I went backpacking, our trip was pretty much off the grid and away from any civilization. There was no cell phone reception, thus we were able to focus on each other, so for our honeymoon, I decided that we should go up north and camp by the lake so we can watch the sunrise.

Our destination was Harrisville State Park, it is located between Tawas City and Alpena.

We departed from the comfort of our home the day after the wedding and drove up along the east coastline of the state to the park. The further north we went, temperatures dipped down lower, but that was fine for me because it had been swelteringly hot and humid in the city due to the heatwaves. I was honestly glad we got to escape from the heat and get some cool breezes from the lake. Now, camping by the lake would have been great if the weather was nice, sunny and breezy, except, that wasn’t exactly how it went.

See, I had anticipated it to rain…like a few sprinkles here and there, because that’s what the weatherman had said on the weather channel…well, I don’t know where they got this one but the guy’s prediction was very very wrong. It didn’t just “sprinkle” a few drops; it poured. Guys, it was pouring for two days straight and didn’t stop raining until the day we left, which ruined the majority of our plans on hiking the trails nearby. Yes, we have hiked in the rain before, but not when it was pouring hard. So, for the majority of our honeymoon, we stayed in our tent, fortunately, we brought card games and books to entertain ourselves.

With all that being said, when it wasn’t pouring, the weather was nice enough that we were able to start a fire and make dinner. Campfire Taco, guys, was very d.e.l.i.c.i.o.u.s. so much so that I had decided it will be one of our camp food repertoires.

Over the years I’ve learned a few tricks about making good camping food, one of them is to prep the ingredients beforehand and then freeze it, so when we get to the campsite, all I need to do was to build a fire in the firepit and heat it up in our cast iron skillet. Below is the recipe for our campfire taco, Bon Appètit!

 

You’ll need:

1lb of lean ground beef

1/2 onion

1/2 Green pepper

1/2 yellow pepper

1/2 red pepper

1 package of mild, low sodium taco seasoning

1 package of tortilla of your choice

1 10″ cast iron skillet

1 bundle of firewood & kidling

 

Steps:

1. Do this before you leave. In a deep skillet or frying pan heat 1 TBS of oil on medium heat, brown the group beef (room temp) and drain 3/4 of the fat. (You’ll need some of the fat from the beef to cook at the campsite.) Add taco seasoning, mix well, turned the heat off and let it cool completely before put into a ziplock bag or freezer-safe container. I used a ziplock bag to save space and also once the beef is frozen solid it can serve as an ice pack in the cooler too!
2. Chop the onions and peppers into bite-size pieces, put them into a ziplock bag or container and refrigerated it until ready to cook.
3. Once you are at the campsite and got the fire going, place the cast iron skillet on the fire and add the beef let it cook for 3-5 minutes. Take it off the fire and stir occasionally. Add the onions when the majority of the frozen fat is melted, cook for another 2 to 3 minutes and add the green peppers. Add the rest of the peppers once the onion is translucent, cook for another 3 to 5 minutes or until everything is heated through. Carefully remove the skillet from the fire and let it cool for a few minutes before serving.
4. You may toast the tortillas in the fire then roll the taco mixtures and add your desired condiments or you may simply enjoy it as it is. Either way is delicious. Enjoy! 🙂

 

Here are some bonus pics from the last day of our honeymoon. The weather was nice and we were able to get up early for sunrise on the lake!